Waters Corporation $WAT Position Increased by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) by 69.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,373,150 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock after acquiring an additional 561,824 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Waters were worth $514,986,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WAT. Boussard & Gavaudan Gestion Sas acquired a new position in shares of Waters in the 2nd quarter valued at about $655,000. Archer Investment Corp acquired a new stake in Waters during the second quarter worth about $199,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Waters in the second quarter worth about $211,000. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt bought a new position in Waters in the second quarter worth about $302,000. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Waters by 10.3% in the second quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,068 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $5,927,000 after acquiring an additional 1,499 shares during the period. 94.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Waters

In related news, Director Christopher A. Kuebler sold 3,626 shares of Waters stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $397.94, for a total transaction of $1,442,930.44. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,808 shares in the company, valued at $7,086,515.52. The trade was a 16.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WAT shares. Wall Street Zen raised Waters from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Waters from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Waters from $425.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $430.00 price target on shares of Waters in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective on shares of Waters in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Waters currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $424.35.

Waters Stock Performance

Shares of WAT stock opened at $414.55 on Friday. Waters Corporation has a 12-month low of $282.77 and a 12-month high of $426.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 103.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $387.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $348.45.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.01 by $0.04. Waters had a return on equity of 11.27% and a net margin of 3.58%.The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 113.3% on a year-over-year basis. Waters has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 3.950-4.050 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 14.450-14.650 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Waters Corporation will post 14.56 EPS for the current year.

Waters Profile

Waters Corporation is a global provider of analytical instruments, software and services for laboratory and research applications. The company designs, manufactures and sells technologies centered on liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, separation science, and related sample preparation and detection systems. Its product portfolio includes chromatographs, mass spectrometers, columns and consumables, laboratory informatics and workflow software, as well as technical support and training services that help customers run and interpret complex analyses.

Waters serves a wide range of end markets that include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research and testing laboratories, academic and government research institutions, clinical diagnostics, food and environmental testing, and industrial and chemical manufacturers.